Chapter 7
Sasha
Sasha stormed into her office. What had she ever done to Conner McPhee? Why didn”t he like her? She just couldn”t figure it out. She had hoped to get a few more captain”s tips videos, but she really didn”t want to work with him anymore, especially after today. She just wanted to scream. She wanted to turn around and go back into the weight room and give him a piece of her mind. But that wasn’t very professional, and if Sasha was anything, she was a motherfucking professional. So, she shoved all the anger down.
The words he said in the weight room kept replaying in her head. And the fact that he was saying them to other people. It all had her seeing red. She plopped down in her chair fuming.
“Is something wrong?” asked Bill, seeming very uncomfortable.
“No, I”m fine,” she gritted out through her teeth. Then she dropped her head to her desk with a thud.
“Is Cash giving you trouble?”
“No. Cash is great. It”s nothing. Just having a bad day.” She knew better than to say a bad word about the golden boy, Conner McPhee.
She pulled up her computer to check her email and some analytics before her meeting with Hillary. She”d been there almost a full month and had been posting for two weeks. So far, she was pleased with engagement and growth, but she wanted the most current numbers before the meeting.
As she pulled it up, she saw two videos were going viral, one was no surprise, the slow-motion video of Cash winking at the suit cam was killing it. But when she looked, Conner”s video was also going viral. She had posted it yesterday, and today it had over 1.2 million views. This was amazing! The Magic had never had views like this, and they were going up as she watched. Followers had almost doubled in the past two weeks. This was everything she hoped it would be. Her five-point social media plan was working, and it was working even faster than she had hoped. Now she was just going to wait and see if this would impact ticket sales as she had hoped. There had been talk of moving the Magic to a larger city to grow the fan base, but if she could grow it here, that wouldn”t be necessary. That was part of Hillary”s goal.
“Okay, Bill, I”ll see you later.”
“Before you go,” he said, stopping her. “I was updating the website with some of those ‘get to know the player pages’. Wanted to let you know the website”s traffic is up today.”
“That”s wonderful! Can you send me those numbers? I’m getting ready for a meeting with Hillary, and I’d love to be able to show her some growth.”
“You got it,” he said, turning back to his computer. She couldn”t believe he had been in charge of their social media. No wonder it had been a snooze fest.
She made her way up to Hillary”s office and checked the email from Bill. Traffic on the site was indeed up. She was feeling good.
“Sasha, come in! How are you doing?” Hillary asked as she entered.
“Good,” she said, sitting down across from her.
“How have you been settling in here?”
“Good, I”m getting to know everyone, and I”ve been able to get going on that plan we talked about,” she said, feeling confident, even if one of the viral videos was with Conner.
“I was talking to the GM today. He”s been really impressed with your work so far.”
“Did you happen to look at numbers today?”
“I haven”t. I”ve been talking deals for players and got stuck in meetings for trade deadlines.”
“Well, we have two videos with over a million views and site traffic is up. I”m hoping that transfers into ticket sales soon.”
“Send it to me,” she said.
“Already did, it should be in your inbox,” Sasha replied with a smile.
“So it is.” She was quiet, looking over the numbers. “Sasha, this is impressive.”
The validation she felt from that was so needed, Conner”s comment about her little videos had been eating away at her.
“I’m pleased with them. I have two more Tips from the Captain and then some great stuff with Wes and Ethan, and some behind the scenes stuff I”m hoping will go well.”
“Good, well I trust you. You are doing great work. I think you should keep going with Conner. He”s so great, isn”t he?”
“He”s....great,” she said, biting her tongue. “I think I might turn the tips to Wes and Ethan though.”
“Hmmm…” Hillary hummed, looking at her laptop. “Yeah, I think Wes and Ethan could be good, but Conner means so much to this team. I think we should stay focused on him too.”
“Can do!” Sasha’s sunny disposition not matching the gray cloud she felt inside about having to work with him.
Sasha left her meeting with Hillary feeling good about everything. Okay, most everything. She was happy with the job she”s been doing but was not looking forward to working with Conner again. At least she still had a few videos set to go, so there was some time before that.
She checked the calendar of events coming that she might like to take pictures at. It looked like there was a family skate coming up in a few weeks. That would be a great time to get pictures of the hockey players skating with their kids. Though she realized she needed to know how to skate herself. She had been teaching herself about hockey so no one would know she didn”t know much, but you can”t research skating. It looked like it was time to practice, so she looked for a local rink and found their open skate schedule. This way she could practice before she had to skate with the families.
That night when she got home her phone rang.
“Hi dad.” She knew it would be him, he called her almost every night, but she was looking forward to talking to him tonight.
“How”s it going Sasha, still doing good?”
“Actually, I was going to call you tonight,” she said.
“Oh, why is that sweetheart?”
“I had a meeting today with my supervisor and it went really well. I have two videos going viral, which means they’re doing really well. It is showing up in traffic to the website which will transfer into ticket sales. She was excited by my progress,” she said with pride filling her voice.
“That”s wonderful. I”m so glad you are doing well. Helping in ticket sales you say?”
“Well, I don”t have those numbers yet, but with the site traffic being up and two videos with over a million views, I”m sure numbers will be up for the next game.”
“I’m proud of you, Sasha.”
Those words meant everything to her. She was proud of herself, but his approval meant a lot to her.
“Are those boys behaving themselves?” he asked.
“Everyone has been amazing. Well, almost everyone,” she grumbled under her breath thinking about Conner, but that was not a conversation she wanted to have with her father.
“Well, I”m going to get ready for bed baba, talk to you soon.”
The next couple of days went well, the videos were still doing good. She had settled on a release schedule that let her keep her head above water and promote the team in the best way. The Cash video had found its target audience and followers were up and active.
Now she just needed to figure out how to skate, so she didn’t make a fool of herself at the family skate coming up over the weekend. Big hockey players and little kids on skates, there was no way she was missing that. That gave her week to figure out how to skate. How hard could it be?
She found a local skating rink and went to every open skate they had. She fell a couple times her first couple visits, but by her third she was able to make it around the rink pretty easily. Nothing fancy like back skating or hockey stops, but she could stay upright and make it around the rink without falling flat on her face. That was a success.
This job had immersed her in a world she hadn”t known. When she was hired she didn”t know much about hockey or how to skate, but in her time there she had managed to learn about the sport and now she could stay upright on the ice. She liked her job and the people she worked with, now she just needed to make some friends.
“Hey, this is your third time here this week,” said an elegant woman skating up next to her.
“Yeah, I have to skate in front of people this weekend, and I don”t want to make a fool of myself.”
“Well, so far so good. I”m Evie, I teach figure skating here.”
“Nice to meet you, I”m Sasha. I”m new to the area.”
“Nice to meet you. Can I ask what skating event you have?”
“Yeah, I”m the social media manager for The Magic and there is a family skate on Saturday morning. I”m hoping to get some good pictures.”
“Ahhh, yes that makes sense,” she said as she skated elegantly next to Sasha who was doing a decent job keeping up.
“Hey, I just moved here from Illinois, and I don”t really know anyone. Would you want to get coffee?” asked Sasha.
“There”s about to be a youth hockey game in the next rink and the concession stand has the best hot chocolate, care to join me?”
“That sounds amazing.”
“I need to finish up out here but do you wanna meet there in fifteen minutes?” said Evie with a soft smile as they skated another lap.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”
Sasha completed her lap around the rink and then got off and returned her skates. By the time she was finished up and back in her own shoes, she headed to the concession stand.
She was just about to order a hot chocolate when she heard a voice from behind her. “Hey Nate, can we get two hot chocolates and some pretzel bites?”
She turned and saw Evie smiling next to her.
“Sure thing, Evie,” answered the teenager as he disappeared to get them their order.
“Thanks.”
“Of course!”
They took their food and sat at one of the tables overlooking the rink full of what looked like middle schoolers warming up for a hockey game.
“How long have you worked here?” Sasha asked once they settled in.
“Oh gosh, on some level I’ve worked here since I was a teenager. I took lessons and competed here. Then after college I came back and got a job coaching the couple high level skaters we have here and teaching some of the other classes.”
“Oh wow, that’s awesome. You used to compete?”
Evie chuckled and blew on her hot chocolate taking a careful sip. “Yeah, I did for a long time. What about you? How long have you worked for the Magic?”
“It’s actually only been a little over a month,” she said, taking a small sip from her own hot chocolate. “Wow, this is good!” She looked at the cheap looking cup of hot chocolate in front of her surprised by its richness.
“I told you. It’s the best. Do you like working for the Magic?”
“Yeah, it’s been great.” That answer was true mostly, but she knew better than to say anything disparaging, let alone anything disparaging about the golden boy.
“Good, we work with them sometimes on some hockey scholarship programs. Hockey can be an expensive sport and we like to help when we can.”
“That’s amazing. I would love to spotlight your program on our page.”
“Really? That would be awesome.”
“Here,” she said, handing Evie her phone. “Put your number in and I’ll see what I can work out.”
After she did that the two of them sat comfortably conversing.
“This was fun,” Sasha said as she got up to throw away her cup.
“It was. We should get a drink sometime,” said Evie.
“I’d like that. It’d be good to have a little more feminine energy in my life. My job has pretty much consumed my time since I started.”
“I’ll text you. I have to run, I have a class starting soon, but it was really nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Sasha said.
As Evie walked away Sasha took a deep breath. Making friends wasn’t always easy to do in a new place, so this felt good. It looked like she was starting to settle down here in Glendale. It had been a long time since she felt this comfortable, even with all the contentious energy between her and Conner, she could see a place for herself here. She even felt fairly confident she wouldn’t make a fool out of herself on the ice the next day.
The following morning Sasha woke up with a jolt. Her nightmares didn’t come as frequently since she moved, but every now and then she would wake up from a dream about a masked man hiding in her room. She hated that someone made her feel uncomfortable in her own space. And she was mad that she had to leave her old career not because she wanted to, but because someone had made that decision for her.
Walking into her bathroom she turned on her shower and looked at herself in the mirror, reminding herself she was safe. She had moved halfway across the country; he would not find her here.
Once she made it to the center, she had managed to shake the panicky feeling the dream had left her with and focused on the family skate. Sasha didn”t know why she felt so nervous, knowing how to skate wasn”t a prerequisite to be good at social media, but she really wanted to prove herself, especially to Conner.
She had this vision of just skating right past him with his mouth on the ground because he thought she couldn”t skate. Then he would tell her he was sorry for not taking her job seriously because she was clearly talented at many things. She would just smirk and skate away, but then he would go after her and wrap his arms around her and he would turn her and kiss her.
Woah. That was not what she should be thinking about any of the players, let alone Conner.
She was the first one there lacing up her skates.
Coach Wagner came out next to her, “Sasha, isn”t it?”
“Yes sir,” she said, putting out her hand to shake his.
“My daughter tells me you are really improving the Magic”s social media.”
“I’m trying,” she said with a smile.
“Well, welcome to the family. That”s what we are here,” he said as they both stepped out onto the ice. He stepped out like it was nothing, just as easy as walking. Sasha was pleased that she was able to appear relatively natural next to him.
The first family on the ice was Gunnar Tyson, his beautiful wife, and their six-year-old son and little three-year-old daughter on skates. The image sent little twinges to Sasha”s ovaries. This was perfect. She started getting some pictures and taking a few short videos. Before long the ice was getting full of big hockey players skating around with kids.
She was busy taking a video of Ethan, a giant goalie stooping down pulling along a little girl with blonde pigtails, perfect. She got a picture of two little girls in skates sitting on a bench eating popcorn. She had her head down reviewing footage when she heard someone approaching her. Conner McPhee. Her eyes rolled at the same time her heart skipped a beat. He just seemed to put her off balance, and she also wanted to kiss the serious look off his face. And that maybe irritated her more than anything about him.
“Hey, look at you on skates,” he said with a smile skating up to her.
“Yeah, I can stay up,” she said. At that moment, because the universe loved a cruel joke, as she pushed off trying to show off her newly acquired skating skills, she lost her footing. She must have looked like a cartoon character doing the foot shuffle slipping on ice, until Conner reached out and grabbed her.
He grabbed one of her hands and slid his arm around her waist, holding her to his chest. Her whole body pulsed being pressed up against his. She looked up into his hazel eyes and the air around them was electric. Her lips parted and she took in a quick breath. He took a deep breath, still holding her pressed against his body. She was just about to explode.
“Ya okay?” he breathed, his eyes never leaving hers, his arms still wrapped around her.
She just nodded and tried to steady herself enough to skate on her own.
“Thanks, I just lost my footing,” she said breathlessly, still looking in his eyes. Then something happened she didn”t expect, Conner smiled. He was always so serious around her, but that smile sent a wave of electricity through her. And she couldn”t help smiling back at him.
At that moment Gunnar skated over to her, “Hey, Sasha?” he asked.
“Yep,” she answered, pulling herself away from Conner.
“My wife asked me if you could email me some of the pictures you took today.”
“Of course! I can get them to you later today.”
“Thank you so much,” he said before he skated away.
Conner was still standing next to her, and she wished that didn”t feel so good.
“So, you”ve been here about a month, how are you liking it?” he asked.
“I really like it,” she said.
“I’m glad. Are you from the area?” he asked.
“Nope, I”m from Illinois.” Was Conner McPhee actually being nice to her? This was the most she had ever spoken to him, and she wasn”t hating it.
“Oh wow, I went to college in Indiana. I like the Midwest. How long have you been here?”
“About five weeks.”
“Oh really? That”s not long.”
“Yeah, I got here a week before I started.”
“What brought you all the way to Glendale?”
“Ummm...the job. I moved here to start working for the Magic.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding a little surprised. “Well, I”m sure you”ll move up the ladder soon.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m just saying that maybe a job in PR will open soon.”
“I have a job in PR,” she said, not even attempting to hide the irritation in her voice.
“I know, I just thought—”
“Thought that I might want a better job than making my ”little videos?” Are you living on the moon, Conner? Social media is necessary. And I”m good at what I do, there is a reason they hired me.”
“Y-you’re amazing.” He stuttered. “I didn”t mean anything by it.”
“You never do, but you have made your feelings clear. I think I have all I need,” she said and skated away.
Conner McPhee. Why was he the most infuriating person, but also why was she so drawn to him?
She made her way up to her office and downloaded the videos to her office laptop and sent some of the footage to Gunnar before heading home. Wine and unpacking were waiting for her at her apartment.